Hi all,
We’ve just published an updated version of the House of Stake Operations Budget Proposal for 2026/2027.
You can find it here:
It’s about:
Lean Governance
Many DAOs talk about “lean governance” today.
Too often, that becomes a first step toward re-centralization, where key decisions and asset management gradually move back to a foundation, council, or small group of key leaders.
At House of Stake, we also need to go lean. But we mean something different.
House of Stake has a clear mandate: becoming NEAR’s Treasury Governance Engine, an independent body focused on economic policy. We have a Constitution and policy framework that were ratified by the community in February with 100% support, and we remain committed to that mandate.
When we talk about lean governance, we mean that governance operations should adapt to decision demand.
Our product is not software. Our product is legitimate, transparent, and well-informed decision-making in the best interest of NEAR. If demand for decisions is low, the operational apparatus supporting those decisions should be lean as well.
Why we’re reducing the budget
Since mid-April, when we published the first budget proposal, we have had six proposal authors preparing for a vote. We were running proposal clinics and workshops, while building the operational capacity needed to support several promising initiatives.
Since then, some proposals have been postponed, while others have not yet reached the proposal stage. As a result, governance activity has remained lower than expected.
We therefore propose a much leaner setup: We agreed with the NEAR Foundation that, until proposal flow increases sustainably, House of Stake will avoid building standalone operational infrastructure where suitable resources already exist. This way, we’ll preserve as much of House of Stake’s treasury as possible for future demand.
We will leverage NF capabilities wherever appropriate, particularly for:
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Software and operational licenses
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KYC/KYB infrastructure
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Payment rails
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Data and analytics
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Legal support
At the same time, House of Stake will maintain independence in areas that are core to its mission:
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Legal compliance and financial reporting for the House of Stake Foundation
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Treasury management and transaction security through NEAR’s Trezu infrastructure
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Dedicated governance, operations, and IT support where independent capacity is required, or where NF resources are limited.
Updated operating budget
The revised annual operations budget is:
$196,000 USD plus 60,000 NEAR
This represents approximately 23.16% of the original budget request in April.
Unlike previous budget proposals, this budget covers a full 12-month operating period rather than the remainder of 2026. We are nearly halfway through the year already, making the reduction even more significant. We remain committed to reduced costs if governance activity and proposal demand require it.
Removing Skin in the Game
We are also proposing to remove the Skin-in-the-Game mechanism.
This is not because the mechanism itself lacks merit. Rather, at this stage it remains unclear whether, when, and to what extent protocol revenues will be distributed through House of Stake in the foreseeable future.
Rather than implementing a mechanism without a clear use case, we believe it is better to revisit it when conditions justify it.
Removing the buffer
Finally, we have removed the operational buffer.
NF has confirmed it can support genuine emergency situations. Any additional costs arising from future proposals should be included and justified within those proposals directly.
Our principle: governance should breathe
These changes reflect a simple principle:
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We don’t build infrastructure that isn’t needed.
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We create systems that can grow and shrink with demand.
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We introduce mechanisms because they serve the ecosystem, not because governance frameworks are expected to have them.
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We keep costs low while remaining ready to scale when activity returns.
That said, thank you to all who made good thoughtful comments to the budget proposals so far. We hope it is clear that community feedback has directly shaped these changes, and we welcome further discussion!
Let’s prove that flexibility, speed, and collective decision-making can reinforce each other rather than compete with each other.
Onwards!